Plans to build second hospital in Be'er Sheva on Wednesday were approved by the Economic-Social Cabinet.
In the first stage, which will last until 2028, the hospital will include operating rooms, surgical wards, hospital beds and beds for rehabilitation and psychiatry.
By 2030, additional operating rooms will be added, along with ambulatory and specialist clinics, oncological outpatient wards, and a dialysis center. The wards will also be expanded.
In the third stage, which will last until 2032, the wards will be expanded again and emergency care, and wards for oncology, internal medicine, and pediatrics will be added as well.
The new hospital will break the monopoly currently held by Be'er Sheva's Soroka Medical Center, which is the only hospital between Ashkelon's Barzilai Medical Center and Eilat's Yoseftal.
In 2019, plans to allow Be'er Sheva to construct the new hospital outside city limits were approved.
In 2021, the Southern District Committee for Planning and Building supported, in accordance with government decision, a government plan to build an additional hospital in Be'er Sheva.